Later Magic sets (such as Vintage Masters seen in the Force of Will example above), have both the collectors number, set code, and rarity in the lower lefthand corner of the card. This is the quickest and most accurate way to identify what set the card was printed in and its rarity. The set symbol, sometimes called the expansion symbol, is the small symbol on the middle section of the card to the right end of the card type box.

These parts include the set/expansion symbol, the frame, the color of the border, the rarity, the copyright symbol and date (if applicable), the corners, the foiling, and the art. There are lots of parts of a Magic card that you should familiarize yourself with if you’re hoping to identify cards for pricing. Some other sites that sell cards that can also be used as a reference are ChannelFireball, Star City Games, and Card Kingdom. TCGPlayer shows you prices for both normal and foil, all the conditions, and a timeline of what a card’s price has been up to the last year. There are a lot of sites to get this price from but TCGPlayer’s market average is the most common. Cards are typically priced based on the market average i.e., the average price it’s being sold for across thousands of resellers like local game stores, individual players, and big organizations like ChannelFireball. Prices aren’t set by any grand establishment. Nobody is buying Talas Warrior to put in a deck, so selling it is extremely difficult compared to a card of high demand with a relatively equal price, like Mystic Remora. These prices are inflated and not an accurate depiction of the market. There are cards that are rare because they were printed long ago, like Talas Warrior, that carry significant prices despite being totally undesired across all formats. The simplest answer to this question is that cards that are not only desired but also rare enough to warrant a higher price from lack of supply are worth the most. My goal today is to go in-depth on each of these areas and give specific explanations as to how each one impacts the final price. All these factors combined result in a card’s final value and how much players are willing to buy and sell it for. If it’s on the reserved list and won’t ever be reprinted, that further increases its price since its supply is limited, regardless of increasing demand. The card’s artist signature or alterations can also either increase or decrease its worth. A rare card that’s also a playset staple in a popular format has extreme value. Bound in Gold | Illustration by Victor Adame MinguezĪ card’s value is determined by its rarity and its demand.

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